Welcome to A Creative Exercise

I started this blog with the purpose of improving my writing skills and to learn from other writers out there. I started blogging at Completely Unoriginal Thoughts (please visit sometime), my first blog. I started off really slowly, but with the discovery of the Blogging From A to Z April Challenge, it really took off and I remembered that I really wanted to write.

I have always liked to write stories, ever since I could put together a sentence. My family likes to remind me of my first series of short stories (written in 2nd grade I think) about the family dog. They chronicled his adventures, going to the vet, falling in love, getting a flea dip, stuff like that.

I continued writing stories through elementary school, middle school and high school. I filled notebooks, note pads and journals with half finished short stories and attempts at novels.
I stopped writing in my early 20's. Things got busy. I didn't put pen to paper unless it was to take notes or fill out forms. I still read like it was going out of style, but I was done writing. When I tried to start again several years later, I couldn't bring any ideas to the party. I could barely compose a comprehensive sentence. It was like learning to walk again.

Now I'm in my 30's, a mother, working a job that may not be there next month, and ready to write. I understand now what I have to do. Practice, practice, practice.

Some things I hope to overcome:

Paralyzing fear of rejection-Part of the reason this is a blog and not a real live real-world writing support group is so that I don't have to see the disdain on the reader's face as they peruse my pathetic scribblings. I only have to see it in the comments.

Find my voice-Probably my greatest failing as a writer is how I think a writer should sound. My favorite author is Stephen King. Many a book snob may turn their noses up at him, but he knows how to set a scene and create a character that you care about before he kills them in some gruesome manner. He also spends several chapters just explaining a character's motivations without actually forwarding the plot. I do not have the time, money, talent or name brand to waste on such, and when I reread something I've written in the style of Stephen King it's just terrible. So, as this bullet point makes plainly clear, I need to learn to get more bang for my word count buck.

Time Management-I have to make myself find time to write.

Write for me, not an audience-If I can just pretend that no one will ever read what I write, I might be able to get past the first 3 points.

If you stick around I hope to work through the writing process, starting with some short stories and general grumblings. My plan is to write something at least once a week, and post every Sunday if not more often.

For anyone who followed me here from Completely Unoriginal Thoughts and prefer general light randomness, I'm keeping that site open as well. I might not post consistently for a few weeks, but I'm sure there is plenty of stuff in my head to keep both blogs going.

Welcome back to Achievements/Goals. I missed several postings, because my laptop crapped out on me. I had been making it work for almost a year after my 90 pound dog jumped on it, breaking a hinge, and cracking the bevel around the screen; but every time I moved the stupid thing the the lid moved a little, eventually causing chunks of plastic to break off and about a third of the screen to go black. When faced with the decision of whether to repair it or replace it, I went the repair route which took three weeks.

Hey, did you know that Toshiba no longer makes computers? Well, I didn't until I went to get mine fixed. Apparently, replacement parts have to be hand delivered from Japan, because that's how long it felt like I was sans laptop.

Hey, do you know how much it costs to replace basically the entire lid of a Toshiba laptop? Neither did I until I had to choke back the tears as I handed my credit card to the Geek Squad guy.

Good Evening. I missed some time, yes. I got busy with life, but I hope to be back on track. Without further ado, here's what has happened over the past couple of weeks:

Achievements I've been slowly working my way through Camp NaNoWriMo this month. I fell of the wagon pretty hard after four days, but with my low word count goal, it has been fairly easy to make up the lost time. I think I'll be able to finish within goal.I did a reading at my writing group two weeks ago. I got positive comments all around, which surprised me, because I was pretty sure that the best thing I could bring to the table was mediocre. I'm still not ready to accept positive feedback. That's the weirdest thing with me. I will absolutely accept criticism without fail, but give me a compliment, and I'm sure you're "just being nice."GoalsPretty much the same as they have been. I'm trying to just get myself on a baseline of competence before trying anything new.Continue to …